


Doctor's Orders

by genericfanatic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-06
Packaged: 2018-07-21 22:27:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7407559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genericfanatic/pseuds/genericfanatic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith and Lance survive the wormhole, but can they survive each other?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Doctor's Orders

“Shiro?” Lance called over the comm. Only static. “Hunk? Pidge?” Still static. “Allura? Corvan?” Nothing. “Keith? ANYBODY?” 

He was still hurdling in space, desperate to keep his lion stable. He had been thrown aggressively from the wormhole, and was silently praying he didn’t crash into anything before he got stable. 

Finally, his lion was upright and under his own control. Still, he heard sounds of alarms and crashing. He looked around. His console was fine. Where was the noise coming from? 

It was the comm! It had opened a channel! Just…no one was answering? He tried to open it visually. It seemed to be Keith, who was swirling around on the monitor. He didn’t look entirely…conscious. “Keith?” He called again. Keith didn’t respond. Lance wasn’t sure he could. “I’m tracking your coordinates. I’ll grab you as soon as I can.”

Keith once again didn’t respond. Lance charged his lion forwards, watching as the red lion went hurdling towards a green planet. He did a silent prayer that this planet wasn’t under Galra control, and then followed the red lion into the atmosphere. 

Just as he saw land, Keith’s comm shorted out. Looking down, there was a small crater with a red dot at the center. He flew towards it and saw it was indeed the red lion, laying in a heap on its side. 

Lance all but jumped out of the blue lion to hammer his fist on the red lion’s mouth. “Keith? KEITH?” He yelled. No response. He backed up and looked into the giant yellow eyes. “HEY RED? DO YOU WANT ME TO SAVE YOUR PALADIN OR NOT?” 

The lion hesitated a moment, then the mouth opened up. Lance jumped inside before the ramp had even touched the ground. “Keith?” He called. 

Coming out of the control center was Keith, leaning heavily on the wall, but awake and definitely alive. Forgetting any notion of them being rivals, Lance leaned down and draped Keith’s arm around his own shoulder and leading him out of the lion. 

Upon reaching ground, Keith fell to all fours, wretching on the ground. Lance leaned down, pulling Keith’s longer hair out of his face with one hand, and putting his other in the center of Keith’s back. 

After Keith had vomited the breakfast that Hunk had made them all that morning, he sat back up, heaving and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Lance let go and squatted beside him. “Thanks,” Keith muttered. Lance nodded. “Where are the others?” 

Lance shook his head, “I couldn’t get a hold of anyone but you. I think they’re out of range.” 

Keith sighed, “Great. Just. Great.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “I’m not exactly thrilled to be here with you either, buddy.” He sighed. “Blue can probably carry Red. You can stay in my lion and we’ll go out and look for the others.”

Keith looked up at Blue. “Blue’s going to run low on power, too. And then we’ll be stranded in the middle of space with no food or supplies. We’re better off staying here.” 

Lance scowled at him, “But we have to find the others! We can’t do that from here!” 

“Lance,” Keith said, exasperated. “Have you forgotten that space is HUGE? We have no idea where they are, it could take a lifetime to find any trace of them.” He sighed, “We’ll have more luck staying here, and sending out a distress call. With any luck, the others will find us.”

“And if they can’t?” Lance asked. There was a silent question neither of them dared say, ‘what if we’re the only ones left?’

Keith shook his head, “We’ll give it a few days. Fix up Red as best we can, and gather supplies.” Lance reluctantly nodded. “We’ll use the lions for shelter. There should be some emergency rations, if you would go get them.”

Lance frowned in frustration. “Why do I have to get them?” 

Keith leaned forward, back on all fours. “Because I’m gonna puke.” 

Lance leaned in just in time to once again hold back Keith’s hair. “Hold this,” he instructed Keith, still wretching his guts. He held the hair himself and Lance let go. “I have sisters, it’s nasty if your hair gets in there.” 

Keith nodded, and Lance got up to look for supplies. 

 

Once Keith had fully emptied his stomach, he returned to his lion and found his spare clothes. He was eager to change out of his flight suit, which was feeling tight on his sick body. Even his jeans were a little tight, but it was better than nothing. 

When he stepped back outside, he noticed a blue field surrounding both lions. 

He looked over. Lance was just emerging from his own lion, also changed into street clothes, and arms full of supplies.

Lance tossed him a water bottle. “Rinse your mouth out first, unless you want to swallow your own vomit.”

Keith did as he was told, spitting the remainder of the horrible taste in his mouth. He wiped the spit from his face and gulped down more of the water. When he emerged for air, he pointed at the blue shield. “This you?”

Lance nodded, “figured we don’t know what’s out there. Better safe than sorry.”

Keith nodded as well. “Smart.”

Lance smirked, “Now Keith, if I didn’t know any better I’d say that was a compliment!” 

Keith rolled his eyes. “Aaaand you’ve ruined it.”

Lance chuckled and shrugged. “I set up that distress call, too. If any of our friends pass through, they’ll pick it up.”

Keith nodded again. “Good. What have you got to eat?” 

Lance dropped the armful of supplies. “I think these are like, those goo things in solid bar form.” He sat, chewing on one, “Ugh, tastes the way you look.” He tossed one to Keith. 

Keith was going to get a headache spending so much time rolling his eyes at Lance. He bit into the goo bar. It was indeed disgusting. “We’ll have to go scavenging at some point, probably.”

Lance nodded. The two ate in silence.

Keith got up and walked to his lion, beginning to examine the damage. “What are you doing?” Lance called, getting up to follow him. 

“Trying to asses the damage.” Keith said, feeling along the metal casing, and mentally searching his connection with Red to see what was salvageable. “I told you, we had to fix her.”

“Of course,” Lance said, “But you just crash landed and emptied out your stomach. You need to rest.”

Keith crossed his arms, scowling, “Since when do you know anything about medicine?” 

Lance grabbed Keith’s arm and dragged him away from his lion. “I told you, I had four little sisters I’ve been looking after since I was six. So, trust me. You’re lucky enough to be alive, and Red will still be there after a nap.”

Keith sighed and followed Lance to the blue lion. Entering, he felt a cool breeze. He wondered if the blue lion was always cooler than the red. He had only been in it once. 

Lance pulled what looked like a sleeping bag, or whatever the Altean equivalent was. He rolled it out on the floor. “Here. Sleep.” 

Keith got down and unzipped it. “I didn’t realize this was part of the emergency supplies.” 

“It’s not,” Lance said, sitting on his control chair, “sometimes I sleep in here. Coran gave me that when he caught me the second time.” 

Keith pulled the covers over himself. “No wonder it takes you so long to get up in the morning.” 

“Yeah, yeah, go to sleep, dude.” Lance leaned back in his control chair, his hands folded in his lap. Keith closed his eyes, the weight of everything finally rushing over him and he fell instantly asleep. 

 

By the time Lance woke up, Keith was long gone. He went out of the lion, finding Keith lying under the red lion, his legs sticking out and his jacket tossed aside. “How’s she looking?” Lance asked. 

Keith banged his head in surprise at the noise. Lance let out a laugh. He squirmed out from the machinery, wrench in hand, gripping his head and glaring at Lance, “What the hell, man?”

Lance desperately tried to keep his laughter under control, but it was difficult, “I swear, it wasn’t intentional, but it WAS funny!” His laughter helped to hide the blush from looking at Keith all covered in grease, with his shirt riding up. 

Keith rubbed his head, still scowling. “What do you want?” 

“An answer to my question would be good,” Lance said, his laughter dying finally, “How is she?”

Keith stood up, grabbing his jacket and wiping his face. “Well, she could use some time at lion castle. But I think I can do a patch job on a few of the major ruptures. It won’t keep her fixed, but it will probably get her space worthy if we need to take off.” 

Lance nodded. “Cool. That works.” 

Keith dropped the jacket and took some water. “There’s actually one thing you can do, if you can use blue to turn her over, I’ll be able to get to the affected areas easier.” 

Lance smirked, “I can do that.” He didn’t move. 

Keith looked between him and the blue lion. “Well?” He asked.

“How are you holding up?”

Keith rolled his eyes, “Lance, I drank, I ate, I rested. I’m fine. And last I checked, you weren’t my doctor, so why do you dare?”

“Seriously?” Lance said, “I have to spell out the ‘you’re my teammate and I don’t actually want you to die’ thing?”

Keith shook his head, “I’m fine. I’ve been through worse.”

“WORSE than falling out a wormhole and crash landing on an alien planet?”

Keith sighed, “Lay off, man.” 

Lance shook his head this time, and marched off to his lion. “I’m re-thinking the whole not-letting-you-die thing!” 

Turning over the red lion was easy. Keith immediately climbed on top of it, lugging sheets of scrap metal and a blow torch to start work on it. Lance grumbled, watching him. Why did he have to get stranded with HIM?” 

He grabbed his bayard and got out of the blue lion, leaving for the edge of the shield, “I’m going to go explore the area around here a bit, see if there’s anything we can use for food.” 

Keith waved his arm to acknowledge Lance, but did not look up. Sighing, Lance walked through the forcefield with ease. 

The planet they ended up in was covered in forest. Or, at least the area they landed in was. The trees were green, like the ones on Earth, but they didn’t look quite…right to Lance. He approached one of the closest ones and investigated. 

The leaves were nearly perfectly round but the branches they were attached to seemed…bendy. Like rubber. He gave the branch an experimental flick, and it bobbed up and down. He reached out and poked the trunk. The tree wobbled. 

He wondered if the bark was edible. He would ask Keith later if he could use his bayard to cut into it, see if it was fruity. 

Keith. Why did it have to be Keith? The two of them were just starting to get along, more or less, and now he was acting pissier than ever. Why did he have to be all “I’m Keith, I crashed my lion even though I’m supposed to be this great pilot, and I act like I’m all fine even though I probably have major internal injuries, but I still act all cool and fix my lion like it’s my damn cycle back on Earth god DAMMIT!” He realized he had been muttering out loud, and ended up stepping on something spiky on the ground. 

He held his foot in pain, hopping on one foot. “Stupid alien planet, stupid Keith, stupid spike, stupid—“ He looked up and stared at a bush off to his right. Something there had, moved, he was sure of it. He continued staring until a pair of yellow eyes blinked at him through the leaves. “Oh, hey little guy,” Lance said, gingerly putting his foot back down. It still pained him, but he needed to stand. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

The little yellow eyes blinked again. “I’m a paladin,” He said, “Of Voltron, It’s all right, you can come out.” 

The eyes rustled the bush, coming closer to him, but not out yet. “Come on,” Lance said, trying to smile, “Come on little guy,” 

The eyes started rising out of the bush, and forming a long neck, like some kind of reptilian giraffe, “Oh, okay, big guy. Dinosaur. Thing.”

The creature had a long snout, with long sharp teeth it bared at Lance. Quickly, Lance took out his bayard and pointed the gun at the creature, “Listen, I really don’t want to do this, but you’re not giving me much choice.” The creature leaned towards Lance, sniffing him like he was meat, “All right, warning shot.” 

He fired, and the blast bounced off the creature’s scales. Lance stared at the creature for another moment before finally saying, “Okay then.”

He ran as fast as his pained foot could travel him back to the lions, his scream turning into a yodel. He could hear the beast chasing after him, its giant feet stomping on the ground, right on Lance’s heels. 

Finally, Lance leaped, and fell effortlessly through the blue shield. The beast fell backward, expecting to pass through as well. Lance breathed heavily, rolling over on his back. 

“What did you do?” Keith called over to him as the creature banged on the shield, 

“What I did?” Lance said, clutching his foot again, “Why don’t you ask Godzilla?” He clenched his eyes shut, taking his shoe and sock off his aching foot. Blood trickled out his heel. 

Keith hopped down off of Red and came over to him. Seeing the blood, he sighed and went to grab the med kit. 

He sat in front of Lance and held his foot, “What happened?” the creature gave up on pounding the shields and instead skulked, watching his prey and waiting for an opening. 

“I was exploring, and I stepped in something, and then that thing attacked! It was impervious to my bayard!” Lance said, flinching as Keith wiped the wound with a pad in the med kit. 

“Mm. Well, you should be more careful.” 

“ME?” Lance said, “It’s not my fault we’re in the middle of that thing’s territory! I barely did anything.” Keith sighed, exasperated.

Keith started to put the bandage on Lance’s bleeding foot. He accidentally hit a nerve that forced Lance to jerk his foot out, gasping. “What is it? Are you hurt?” 

Lance shook his head, “Just tickles is all.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “For goodness sake,” He grabbed ahold of Lance’s ankle and slapped the bandage on. Lance felt tingles up his whole leg and all but kicked Keith in the face. 

Lance looked in his eyes. He had dark shadows underneath them, “How long have you been working?” 

Keith shrugged, “Since you left. Why.”

Lance nodded, “Doctor Lance says its time for a break.”

“I am taking a break!” Keith said, “I’m helping you.”

“A longer break,” Lance said, “Look if that things out there, then that means we’re not going to be able to depend on as much food and water from the planet. Which means we’re going to have to ration out our food and water, and it means we need to not expel too much energy, or we’ll have to eat and drink more. And you’re dehydrated already, so, you’re done.” 

Keith sighed, furious. “All right then. What exactly are we supposed to do?”

Lance shrugged, “I have cards.”

It turns out Keith knew very few card games. Lance did his best to try and teach him, but Keith didn’t seem to be having any of it, choosing instead to go rest in the sleeping bag. Lance sighed and played solitaire. He looked outside the shield. His friend, the giant beast, had retreated to the forest, but he could still see two yellow eyes peeking out of the foliage, “Well, at least I have you to keep me company, Buster.” 

 

Keith was going to break a tooth with the amount of teeth grinding he was doing. Lance was regulating his entire day, and wouldn’t leave him the FUCK alone. Fixing the red lion? Lance was there. Going to eat? Lance had his food and water already regulated out for the day. Trying to relax, as he was compelled to do? Lance was offering cards or trying to play some kind of game or talk about life on earth or something. 

Keith much preferred when Lance was competing with him all the time. He could handle that. He couldn’t stand being looked after and WATCHED all the time. He was used to doing things alone, so the ‘care’ or whatever Lance was giving him was annoying. 

Besides that, Lance was ridiculously, hopelessly, and annoyingly optimistic. “Hey, Keith,” He shouted, handing Keith tools, “You hear about the lion who learned how to use office equipment?”

“Go away, Lance.”

“He was a real copycat.” 

Keith groaned. “What do I need to pay you to go away and be quiet?” 

“What have you got to trade?” Lance asked. Keith hesitated. He had nothing. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Lance leaned back on the Red Lion as though it were a tanning bed. 

“Fine,” Keith said, “What can do to get you to actually take this all SERIOUSLY?” 

“I AM taking it seriously!” Lance said, looking at his watch, “Speaking of which, you’ve got 10 minutes before you get another break.” 

Keith groaned in annoyance as he wrenched a bolt into place. “ENOUGH with the breaks. So I’ll go without a little water, I lived alone in the desert, I’ll be fine.”

“You most certainly will not.” Lance said, “For one, I’m having enough trouble taking care of you when you’re standing and walking around, I’m not doing it when you’re passed out. Second, if you do, you’re screwed, because I have no idea how to fix this lion.” Lance shrugged. 

Keith sighed. He was sweating a lot. Even with the shield, a lot of sunlight was beating down on him, up there. It didn’t stop Keith from acting bitter. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“What?” Lance asked.

“Bossing me around?” He wiped the sweat from his forehead. His long hair was sticking to his face, “Telling me what to do? Like you know better than me or something?” 

“I apparently DO know better than you,” Lance said, rolling over to lay on his stomach, “As you seem to want to kill yourself out here.”

“Please,” Keith said sarcastically, “I’m fine, and you don’t actually care. But we need to fix Red.”

“You’re the one who said we had to stay here,” Lance said. “We can take off right now in blue, she can even carry Red. But then we’ll just be lost and starving in space, so here we are.” 

Keith muttered under his breath. “What did you say?” Lance asked. 

“I said,” Keith put down his wrench and stood up, “That we wouldn’t BE short on supplies if you didn’t fail at scavenging.”

Lance jumped upright, facing him and trying to stare him down, “I’m sorry, did you SEE the size of that thing I was facing? Why don’t you and you’re little toothpick go out there and fight it, if you think you’ll do better!” 

“Maybe I will!” Keith said, “It would be a relief just to get away from you! But then there would be no one here to fix Red, because it seems like I’m the only competent one here!”

Lance stepped forward, into Keith’s face, “I am PLENTY competent.”

“You,” Keith said, “Have just been lying around telling jokes all day, while I’VE been working. Because I actually take this all seriously!”

“I DO take it seriously!” Lance said.

“NO YOU DON’T!” Keith shouted, spit flying into Lance’s face, “For some reason you can’t seem to GRASP the idea that we are STUCK out here in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! That our friends could be DEAD! The war is OVER, Voltron LOST, how the hell do you sit around, telling me what to do, and telling JOKES!” Keith pushed Lance so he stumbled backwards slightly, but held his footing.

“The war ISN’T over!” Lance said, “Allura and the others will FIND us, we just have to stay alive until then, and we can’t DO that if you’ve either FAINTED or gone STARK RAVING MAD! So YEAH! I tell jokes.” Lance pushed Keith back.

“What, you were just trying to keep me SANE?” Keith shouted, pushing Lance again. Lance was standing at the very edge of the lion, but still standing. 

“YES!” 

That had gotten Keith to pause. Maybe, just maybe, Lance wasn’t doing what he did to spite Keith. 

The moment of realization came slightly late as Lance lost his footing and started slipping backwards, “LANCE!” Keith grabbed forward and just missed his shirt, and so watched Lance fall down off the lion, wildly turn in the air as he tried to right himself, before landing stomach down on the ground below. 

Dread filled Keith as he looked down at his fallen friend. Lance lay so perfectly still. “No,” He muttered to himself, panic filling him, He slid down the side of the lion, careful he didn’t fall as well, but moving as fast as he could, “No, no, no, no,” He rushed towards Lance. “Lance! Lance, come on, oh please don’t be dead, oh my god, Lance, LANCE!” 

He skidded by Lance’s side. Lance stayed still. Quickly, Keith rolled Lance onto his back. 

Lance, apparently unable to contain himself anymore, let out a laugh. Keith stared at him in shock as Lance continued laughing. “You,” He muttered, mostly to himself, “You’re not hurt?”

Lance sat up, too consumed with laughter to respond. Keith’s panic quickly transformed to anger, “you ASSHOLE!” Keith pushed Lance back down, then got up, “I thought you were actually DYING!” 

“Gee,” Lance said, between laughs, “I wonder what that’s like.” 

Lance’s laughter died away. Keith paused, anger now being replaced by guilt. He turned to see Lance sitting up. “I don’t know where we are,” Lance said, “We could be billions of billions of miles from my family. And I can’t even guess where our friends are right now.” Lance pushed himself to stand tall, “You’re all that’s left. And I do think we’re going to be rescued. But I’ll be damned if I lose you too.”

Keith wasn’t sure what to do, so he simply froze up. Lance looked down to his watch. “10 minutes are up, it’s time for another break.” 

Keith nodded. “What do we do?”

 

The two of them ended up sitting in the shade of the blue lion, laughing at previous missions and their compatriots. “I’m serious!” Lance said, “Literally everyday Hunk would wear this weird…contraption thing under his shirt, just so he could eat in class. It was like… a straw for food or something.” 

“How does that even work?” Keith asked.

Lance gave an exaggerated shrug. “Engineers, man.”

Keith smirked. “Wish I’d have known you back then. I mean, actually know you, not, know-of-your existence kind of known you.” 

Lance rolled his eyes. “Ah, right, because the almighty Keith was always too talented for us lowly mortals.”

Keith’s smile faded slightly and he looked away. “It—It wasn’t like that.”

“Oh?” Lance asked, “What was it like, then?”

Keith tapped the side of his shoe, “I, uh,” He swallowed, “I was having some issues at the time. Like, a lot of…of issues.” He took a swig of the water Lance had rationed for them, “’Disrespectful towards authority figures.’ At least, that’s what I was told. And I didn’t really have a family who could back me up, so I got into a lot of fights with the higher ups. That’s why I didn’t remember you right away.”

Lance’s smile had completely fallen of, “Whoa, wait, back up. No family?” Keith shook his head, “None?”

Keith shrugged, “It’s not that big a deal,” He said. Lance raised his eyebrows at him. “My mom died when I was a kid, spent some time in foster homes, and then managed to get into the Garrison, and I stayed there over breaks.” Keith smirked. “I mean, until I got kicked out. But then I just lived out in the desert.” 

Lance blinked in silence, unsure how to take this. “I—shit,” He said, “I—I’m sorry, man.”

Keith swallowed, awkwardly, “It’s really not a problem. I—I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.” Lance still looked shocked, “So, you’re close with your family, I take it?”

Lance nodded, “My dad died when I was a kid, but we had tons of uncles and aunts and cousins who lived close by and could help out.” A thought passed by Lance, “Hey, what month is it, do you think?”

Keith blinked in surprise, “I have honestly no idea.”

“Do you think it’s January?” Lance lay back and looked up at the underside of his lion. 

“No clue. Why?” 

Lance chewed his lip. “My sister’s 15th birthday is in January. Her quinceñera. There’s a father-daughter dance, it’s part of the tradition. I promised I would   
stand in for Dad.”

Keith watched as the disappointment sunk in on Keith’s face. “I think its…November, at the latest.” He smirks to himself at the idea of him cheering Lance up. “We can save the universe in two months.” 

Lance smirked, “Easy.”

The two of them laughed. Lance looked at his watch, “You can probably get more work done, if you want.”

Keith nodded, “Actually, it might be good to go out and scavenge, a bit. See if we can’t conquer your Godzilla friend.”

Lance smirked, getting up and offering Keith his hand. He pulled Keith to his feet. “I’ve been calling him Buster.”   
Keith frowned at him, “You NAMED it?” 

Lance shrugged, “Why not?” 

Keith shook his head, laughing. The two took off for the edge of the forest. 

 

From then on, it was much easier to get along with each other. They managed to find a stream not far from their campsite and filled up whatever canisters they could grab. The rubbery tree branches tasted like flavorless gummies. Neither of them fell over dead, so they considered it to be food. 

They could only take short trips out into the wilderness, and they didn’t dare go alone. Keith didn’t mind as much anymore that they seemed to spend all their waking hours together. Once he realized it was more about keeping Lance company rather than Lance controlling his life, it was much easier. 

Given they were now getting food and water, and Keith seemed to be recovering from his crash, Lance allowed longer work days. 

“Lance,” Keith said, gasping for air, “I’m done for the day. He wiped the sweat off his face and tried to keep his shirt from sticking to his skin as best he could.

“Ah, come on,” Lance said, “You can go for another half hour!”

Keith glared over to him, “I’ve pushed you off of here, before, and I’ll do it again.” Lance chuckled at him. 

He had started to show Lance a little of what he was doing, and so the work went faster. It wasn’t Lance’s favorite work, but he did what he could. 

Their downtime was getting better as well. The night on the planet there was cool, so, they would sometimes simply lay on top of one of their lions and looked up at the sky beyond the blue shield. 

“The stars look so different than they did on Earth,” Lance said. “I can’t explain it, they’re points of light like anything else. But it’s different.”  
Keith nodded, “It’s the constellations. They’re all wrong.”

Lance sighed, stretching his arms up above his head. “I could never remember the constellations. Like, one was a bear, but also a spoon, and it didn’t really look like either.”

Keith chuckled, “Ursa Major. The big dipper. It’s kinda more of a ladle than a spoon.” 

“The point is, if I was naming them, I’d make sure they actually looked the shape I was calling them.”

Keith looked over at him, “Why don’t you?”

Lance turned to him too. “What?”

Keith swallowed, “When I was a kid, my mom and I would go out and look at the stars and make up our own constellations and stories.” 

Keith blushed silently, but Lance didn’t comment on it. He had never heard Keith talk about his mother, except to say she was dead. “All right,” Lance looked up at the stars, trying to find a pattern in it. “You see those 3 points there, and then those two points up there? I’m calling that one the mullet.”

Keith rolled his eyes, “Get off my hair, would you?” Lance laughed. “Constellations are supposed to tell stories. Orion, the hunter, Andromeda, and Cassiopeia. Something legendary.” 

Lance sighed, “You name one, then.” 

Keith searched the sky himself, “Okay, lets see, there, that series of 7 stars, you see that? That’s the red lion, defender of the universe.” 

Lance squinted up, “Looks more like the blue lion to me.”

“It’s stars, you can’t tell color,” Keith said.

“No, no,” Lance pointed at it, “Look, it’s slightly bluish.”

“That’s the blue of your shield, asshole,” Keith playfully punched Lance in the arm.

“Ow, geez, violent,” Lance said, rubbing his arm. 

“Your turn.”

Lance sighed. “There, that kinda almost circle thing? That’s the helmet of Charles McClain.”

Keith blinked, recognizing the surname. “McClain?”

“My father,” Lance smirked, “Sure, he didn’t die fighting aliens or anything, but…” His voice trailed off. 

Keith, for once, felt uncomfortable in the silence, “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Lance smiled, “I’m proud of him. There was a fire on one of the bases on Luna, and the suppression system wasn’t working. He managed to keep the passages clear to let the rest of the crew get to the escape pods.” His smile turned sad, “I was 9.” 

Keith, unsure of what to do, patted Lance on the shoulder. It wasn’t the easiest angle to reach. “I’m sure he’d be proud.”

Lance looked to him. “I’m sure you’re Mom would be proud of you.”

Keith was struck silent. No one had said that before. For a moment, the two of them lay back, staring into each other’s eyes. Keith felt his heart pounding in his chest. 

Lance was the first to break out of his reverie and look back to the sky, “We should name one for Allura. She would like that.”

Keith nodded. “That cluster kinda looks like a flower. Like those Altean flowers she’s always going on about.” 

Lance squinted up, trying to find what he was pointing at. “Which cluster?” 

Keith shuffled closer to him, his head beside Lance’s. He tried to point across Lance’s eyeline. “Right there. With the bright one in the middle.”

Keith felt a breath on the side of his face. Turning, Lance wasn’t looking at the sky at all, but had his head turned a very, very short distance away from Keith’s face. Keith felt the blood rise in his face, and one thought pounded in his head: He really wanted to kiss Lance.

He thought he should be panicking at that thought more than he was, though if he really thought about it, it was a long time coming. His heart was pounding in his throat, and god, Lance was coming closer, his breath warm on Lance’s face. This was it. He closed his eyes, waiting.

Lance shot up to a sitting position. Keith blinked in surprise. He gulped. Had he read the situation wrong? Did Lance panic when he realized? “Lance, I—“

“Shh,” Lance said. There was a tone of urgency in his voice, making Keith think it didn’t have to do with him. Keith sat up. “Blue’s trying to tell me something.” Keith stared at Lance, who was searching the forest with his eyes. It was hard to see anything other than shadows at night. Suddenly, Lance jumped to his feet, “We’re getting a message.”

The two rushed down to Blue’s cockpit, and saw a small screen covered in static. Lance sat at his chair, pushing buttons. The static started to clear and they could hear a noise that sounded like a voice. Keith leaned over Lance’s chair, trying to figure out who the shape was. 

Lance pressed the buttons harder, as if that would help to clear the noise. “Lance,” They heard the voice say. The next phrase was difficult to make out. They then heard the words “comm unit,” “Shiro,” “carrier signal” and “respond,” 

“Come on, Come on,” Lance said, trying to clear the interference.

The visual image took the shape of a head with glasses, and finally they could see Pidge’s face in the screen. “Lance,” Pidge said, “This is a repeating call. I’ve managed to extend the range of my comm unit. Hunk and I are together, and we’ve made contact with Shiro, Allura, and Corvan. No word yet from Keith. If you can hear this, match your comm unit to this carrier signal and respond and we’ll track your location. Once Lion Castle comes to pick us up, we’ll be on our way to grab you.” The message replayed. 

With every word Pidge said, Keith gripped Lance’s shoulder a little tighter. “They’re alive,” Keith muttered, “They’re alive and they’re all okay!”

Lance stood up, grin plastered on his face, “They’re more than okay!” Lance said, “They’re coming to get us!” It took a moment for them both to fully accept it, and then, Lance gave a cry of jubilation, and they hugged each other to celebrate. Both of them laughed like only people who thought they were going to die and heard they were going to live could. 

And so powered with relief and joy, Keith pulled Lance in for a kiss. 

They held each other for a moment, lips locked together. Realization dawned slowly on Keith, and as it did, he started to pull away, embarrassed at what he’d done. Before he could even remove his lips, though, Lance pushed himself forward, grabbing onto the back of Keith’s head and holding him in place. Keith let out a low moan, enjoying the kiss for all it was worth. 

Finally, Keith’s heartbeat quieted down, and he heard Pidge’s repeating message start over. Keith broke the connection, still leaning his forehead on Lance’s, “Lance?”

“Hm?” Lance tried to capture his lips once more, but Keith evaded him.

“We have to send a signal back.”

Lance nodded, and stood straight up. God, he was tall. He kept nodding and blinking until he brought himself to reality and sat back in his chair, pressing buttons to record a message of his own. “Pidge!” he shouted, startling Keith, “I am going to KISS your glasses I’m so glad to hear from you.” Keith laughed at that, “No need to worry, Keith’s with me. I mean, he’s not like—he’s right here, but I don’t mean,”

“Oh, shut up,” Keith sad, jokingly, “Red’s crashed which is probably why I didn’t get your signal. Just hurry up and come get—“

Keith was cut off by an alarm on Blue. Lance sat up straight, all traces of joviality drained away. “Galran ships incoming!” He turned the recording off and sent the message off on Pidge’s carrier signal. 

Keith was on alert as well. “Can Blue get us out of here?”

“You mean, carry Red AND fight off Galra troops? We’ll find out.” He quickly started pressing buttons, “Might want to put your flight suit on real quick, and pass me mine while you’re at it.” 

Keith tossed it to him, then put on his own from where it lay beside his sleeping bag. Lance was changing as he powered up the lion. The blue shield went down and Keith saw him pick up the Red lion in Blue’s claws. He held onto the back of Lance’s chair to hold himself steady. 

There were three ships descending directly towards them, entering the planet’s atmosphere. With a roar, Blue leapt into the air charging at them. The ships opened fire, and immediately, the lion shook as it took damage. Lance fired back, enraged. The first ship took damage, but nothing close to destroying it. “Aim at those claw things on the bottom,” Keith instructed, “That way the won’t be able to grab the lions.”

Lance did as he was told, and one by one, the ship’s clamps were destroyed. In doing so, he had put himself in between all three. “Try and evade,” Keith said, desperately wishing he had controls of his own to use. 

“Now which one of us is being bossy?” Lance muttered, as he dodged most of the attacks. Unfortunately, Blue wasn’t as agile or fast as Red, and he couldn’t dodge all of them. 

Keith felt a pain in his head as Red got hit with a blast. “Careful!”

“I’m trying!” Lance said. He focused his attacks on one ship, trying to break a hole through the force. 

Unfortunately, that left him open to the other two. 

Blue took a hit to his back, and the lion stopped moving. “Propulsions are down!” Lance cried out, trying desperately to get it back on line. Both lions started falling back down to the planet’s surface. Giving up on flying, Lance fired every gun he could get his hands on, barely aiming as ice and blasts flared around them, even hitting the ship he was trying to break through. That ship began falling fast to the planet’s surface as well. “Hold on to something!” Lance cried out. Keith grabbed onto the back of Lance’s chair for dear life as the forest came back into view, and they crashed, less than a mile from their last site, taking trees down with them. 

Everything shook and crashed around them. Keith kept his eyes shut, focusing on holding on. 

Finally, they stopped moving. Keith opened his eyes. The lion was on it’s side, but Lance had managed to keep the head and the control room reasonably steady. Outside the eyes, Keith saw at least one of the Galran ships had landed. 

In front of him, Lance was slumped over in his chair. Keith took his helmet off and saw a slow trickle of blood in his brown hair. “Lance,” He said, panicked. He reached and felt for a pulse. It was beating. He was alive. “Lance, wake up!” He gave him a gentle shake. Lance lightly stirred, but did not wake up. 

Keith looked out the window. Galran soldiers were coming out of the ship. Keith looked between them and Lance, then took out his Bayard and went for the exit.   
At the mouth of the lion, Galran soldiers stood around pointing their guns at Keith. Here, he could see the paws of Red sticking out from underneath Blue. The head Galran stepped forward. “Paladin,” He said, “Surrender now and you may live. Fight, and you will die.”

Keith took out his sword, “I’ll take my chances.”

The soldiers opened fire, and he turned on his shield blocking their shots. He rushed forward, and as he reached one of their soldiers, took out his sword again and fought them off. 

It was a losing battle; he knew that going in. Still, he took down a number of soldiers before his Bayard was knocked out of his hands. He was hit in the back with a blast, and while his armor took most of the damage, he was flung forward onto the ground. He lifted his head reaching for his Bayard, when a Galran soldier stepped on his wrist. He screamed as he heard the bones crack. “Time to die, Paladin scum,” The soldier said, pointing his gun at Keith. Keith closed his eyes, ready for the end.

“WAIT!” He heard behind him. It was Lance’s voice. He picked his head up and turned. The blue shield was back up, surrounding both lions. Lance stood on the other side, keeping himself up by leaning against said shield. “This shield will only go down for me. If you kill him, you’ll never have the lions.” 

The soldier got off Keith’s arm and dragged him up by his hair. “Take the shields down, or he dies.” He pointed his gun to Keith’s head. 

“Lance don’t!” Keith cried out. Lance crossed one arm across his body, subtly pointing to the side. Keith looked without turning his head. Two yellow eyes shined in the darkness. 

“All right,” Lance said, “All right, we surrender. Just, don’t hurt him.” He put his hands up and the shield disappeared. 

Slowly, Lance stepped forward. Before the soldiers could reach him, though, he whistled. 

Enraged, Buster came charging out of the forest. In surprise, the Galran soldier’s opened fire at the beast, but it deflected off his scales just as Lance’s gun had. He reached down his long neck and swallowed one of the soldiers whole. 

The soldier holding Keith had dropped him in surprise. Keith used his good arm to elbow him in the stomach, grab his weapon and then fire it at him. He ran and dived for his bayard, but by the time he got there, Buster was too close, and he wasn’t being too discerning in who he attacked. 

The large creature’s tail swept toward him, but he was knocked down and the tail missed him. Looking up, he saw Lance had pushed him down, but in doing so, had gotten swept up himself. He landed on the ground, head first. 

Keith scrambled over to him and picked him off the ground. His head was bleeding heavier, and his eyes were closed, “Lance!” He said, begging him to wake up. He checked his pulse. Miraculously, he was still alive. 

The Galran soldiers, realizing their guns were ineffective, switched to fighting with long spear-like weapons. “Lance, put the shield back up,” Keith commanded. Lance didn’t move, “Come on, Lance, you have to put the shield back up.”

Buster screamed out in agony as the spear pierced him. Soon, the soldiers would defeat it, and then turn their attention back on their original targets. Looking was all Keith needed to know Lance wouldn’t wake soon enough. Cursing, and apologizing to his lion, He lifted Keith over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, and ran into the forest. 

 

Keith found the stream they had been getting water from and lay Lance against one of the stones. He took off his armor to get at his jacket underneath, and used it as a makeshift bandage for Lance’s head. He tried pouring water into Lance’s mouth. After a couple of attempts, where more water fell on Lance’s face than in his mouth, Lance swallowed. 

“Come on, Lance,” He begged, “Come back to me. Hold on.” Lance’s eyes twitched, “Lance,” he hovered over him, holding his hand in his good arm, “Lance, can you hear me?”

Lance’s eye’s flickered open just slightly further. His eyes slowly came into focus and looked at Keith, “Keith,” he muttered, barely audible.

Keith broke into a smile, “H-Hey,” He said. He choked down tears as he held Lance steady, “Hey, Lance.” Lance smiled weakly at him. Keith wasn’t sure what to say, “You’re gonna be all right, okay?” 

Lance took two attempts to finally say, “Y-you’re arm.”

“My what?” Keith asked. He looked to his broken wrist. In the panic and adrenaline rush, he had put the searing pain out of his mind. “I’m, I’m fine. I’m more worried about you.”

Keith looked into his eyes. His pupils were dilated. He wished he remembered more of his medical training, but he was pretty sure that was a bad sign. “I’m sleepy,” Lance said. 

“No, no no.” Keith said, tapping his face to try and keep him awake. “You gotta stay with me, all right? Help is on the way. Remember? We called Pidge, they’re gonna get here soon.”

Lance swallowed and opened his eyes as wide as he could. “Our lions…” Keith bit his lip. “They took them, didn’t they?” His voice was getting stronger, but it was still low and strained. 

“I don’t know.” Keith said, “But if they did, we’ll just take them back. It’ll be fine.”

Lance nodded. “You’re—“ Lance started coughing. Keith ran to get him more water. He drank it gladly. “You’re going to have to keep me awake.” He said. 

Keith nodded, “Okay, okay,” Keith pushed hair behind his ear. “Okay. Um. What should I do?”

Lance smiles, “Tell,” He swallowed, trying to get the words out, “Tell me a joke.”

“Seriously?” Keith said. Lance smirked, “I don’t know many jokes.” Lance looked at him imploringly. “All right, all right, um..,” Keith thought for a moment, “What, um, what type of cat shouldn’t you play poker with?”

Lance smiled, “Let me guess, a Lion? Cause,” he coughs, “cause, he lies?”

Keith shook his head, “No, no a cheetah.”

Lance gave a half laugh. “That,” He said, “Was terrible.”

“About as bad as the jokes you tell me,” Keith said. Lance smiled, but his eyes drooped closed, “Hey, hey,” he said, “What did I say about staying awake?”

Lance nodded forcing his eyes open, “You, you really are…bossy.” He said.

“Damn straight,” Keith said, “I’m the one looking after you now. So you have to do what I say.”

Lance nodded again. “Always love it when you play doctor.” 

Keith rolled his eyes, “All right, well, at least the pervy section of your brain is working, so hopefully you should be feeling better.”

Lance smirked, “Ooh, sorry. ‘m gonna have to re—revoke your license.” He swallowed. “I’m cold.”

Keith slipped his good arm under Keith’s neck and pulled him into his lap. “Here, take my body heat.”

Lance made a “tsk” sound that might have been supposed to be laughter. “As glad as I am to be in your arms..” he swallowed, “You know that’s not what I meant.” Lance’s breath hitched for a moment. Keith squeezed him, unsure of what to say. “Keith…I—I’m not going to make it.”

Keith shook his head, “Don’t you dare say that.” A tear creeped into the corner of his eye. “Shiro and the others are coming, you heard Pidge. You were nearly exploded once and then you were fine. You’ll be better again.”

Lance shook his head, “We have no idea how far they are. It could take days to get here. And then they have to find us in the forest.”

Keith shook his head harder, “Stay still. You’re gonna be fine.”

“It’s okay,” Lance said, although the tears rising in his eyes told a different story, “I just need you to do one thing for me.”

“No,”

“Just listen,” Lance swallowed, slowly blinking as he gathered the strength to speak. “Bury me on Earth, would you? Near my father.” Keith couldn’t hold in the tears anymore, “And…tell my mom…my family…where I’ve been. What I did.”

“You’ll tell them yourself, you hear me?” Keith said, his tears falling onto Lance, “You have to dance with your sister, remember?”

“Just promise me.” 

Keith closed his eyes, knowing that this moment, Lance’s’s face looking at him, was going to be etched in his face for a long time. “I promise.” He said, “But I swear to god, if you kiss me and then die, I will KILL you.” He said. 

Lance nodded. “Noted.”

Keith smiled. “I wish I’d kissed you sooner. But I didn’t…I didn’t even realize myself.”

Lance gave a half-hearted shrug. “I should’ve. Could’ve. I’ve kinda known on some level…how I felt…for a while…” His eyelids dropped again. 

“No, no you don’t,” Keith said, holding onto him. “You’re staying right with me. You’ve got to fight for me until the very end, you hear me? Because…because if you don’t it proves I’m a better pilot.”

Lance smiled. “Well we can’t have that, can we?” He blinked up at Keith again, the light fading from his eyes. “Tell me a story.”

Keith swallowed, “I don’t know any good stories either.”

“Come on,” He said, “something to keep me awake. Talking is…is tiring.”

“Then stop talking.” Keith commanded, “Doctor’s orders.” He sighed, thinking, “Okay, I know one, do you know the princess and the bluebird?” Lance gently shook his head, “My mom told it to me as a kid. All right, here goes. Once upon a time, there was a little girl, whose father loved her very much. All she wanted was a little bluebird for a friend…” 

After that story, he tells another, and then another, except by that point, he’s making things up about lions and princesses and robots and all kinds of things, most of it not making much sense. Lance was quiet the whole time, all though Keith continued to make sure he was awake. It was the longest Keith had ever seen him go quiet and it was disturbing.

What was more disturbing was the fact that with each minute, Keith could hear Lance’s breath growing weaker. The sun rose slow and pink over the sky.

Keith was distracted from his story by a sound overhead. Looking up was the most magical thing he could imagine, Lion Castle flying down into the atmosphere, surrounded by three lions. “Lance,” Keith said, “Look, look they’re here! They came for us.” 

Lion Castle fired at the planet’s surface, and there was some explosion back from where Keith had come from, “The Galran ships must still be around, trying to move the lions.” Yellow, Green, and Black lions dove toward the area, fighting an enemy Keith couldn’t see beyond the trees.

“K-Keith,” Lance said, his voice raspy, “You have…you have to run…” 

Keith frowned in confusion. “What? No, no we’re so close. You’re gonna make it. You’ll be all right!”

“They…”Lance said slowly, “won’t know…how to find us…out here…go to them…bring them back…for me.”

Keith realized what he was saying. If he wanted to get Lance back to the ship in time, he would have to leave him behind to run for help. Gently, he placed Lance back on the rock, “I’ll be back for you.”

Lance’s smile was barely noticeable, “’M not…going…anywhere…”

Keith leaned in and kissed Lance’s head, “Don’t die.” And he ran off towards the sounds of the fighting. 

“I don’t see them!” He heard Pidge shout in the distance.

“Keep looking,” Shiro’s voice said, “They have to be somewhere.”

“SHIRO!” Keith shouted, desperate to get his attention.

“Keith?” Shiro asked through the trees. 

“Shiro, come quick!” 

Keith ran headfirst into Shiro, who had concern written all over his face. “Keith…you’re arm—“

“Nevermind that!” Keith said, grabbing Shiro’s human arm and running back the way he came, “Lance is bad and I can’t carry him, You have to come quick!” 

Shiro ran on Keith’s heels. God, Keith wished there had been a path, he was sure he had gone straight, but it was hard to tell in these woods. Had he passed that tree? That rock, that had been the one he jumped over, right? In hindsight, he wished he had left a path for himself but he was so eager to find help, he had forgotten that finding Lance again might be more difficult than he thought. 

Keith paused looking throughout the forest. Did he go too far? Oh god, what if he got lost and they couldn’t find Lance until it was too late? “What is it?” Shiro asked.

“I don’t…” Keith muttered, panicked, “I don’t remember the way back. LANCE!” He called out. He didn’t know what he expected. Lance had barely been able to say his name when Keith had left him, “LANCE!” He paused, listening for any sound that might help. 

There were no voices, only the sounds of animals, rustling leaves in the trees, and…and water! A stream! The stream he’d left Lance by! “This way!” He said, charging towards the sound. 

“Are you sure?” Shiro asked, running beside him. 

Before Keith could answer, they came up to the stream. It wasn’t the same place Keith had left Lance, but it was the right stream, he knew. He looked up and down. There, not too far upriver, was a gleam of white armor. He pointed and started running. 

Shiro had seen it too, and ran for it faster than Keith. By the time Keith had reached them, Shiro had picked Lance up into his arms. Lance seemed unconscious. “Is he all right? Is he alive?” Keith asked, worriedly.

“No time,” Shiro said, taking off into the forest towards the other ships. “Allura,” he said into his comm, “prepare a med pod. I’m bringing Lance up immediately.” Keith couldn’t hear Allura’s response. Instead he just followed Shiro as best he could. 

Everything blurred together in Keith’s mind after that. He vaguely remembered coming into the crash sight, seeing the red and blue lions half-loaded into the landed Galra ship, tied up in cables. Seeing the Black lion take off for Lion Castle, presumably with Lance in tow. Seeing the yellow lion break the cables around Red and Blue, and carrying Blue up to the castle to be fixed. Pidge coming up to him, and guiding him to the Green Lion, then piloting them both up to the castle. 

Pidge ushered him to the med pods, and he passed Allura and Corvan, looking at Lance, floating in the med pod as he had before. “Is he all right?” He practically shouted at them.

Allura turned to him, smiling, “He’s alive. He’ll be okay.”

Finally relaxed, he let the others take off his armor, and putting him in his own med pod. The last thing he thought before he woke up was He’s alive.

 

Lance fell forward out of the med pod. Thankfully, at least three sets of hands were there to hold him this time. “Easy there, buddy,” Shiro said. He blinked and the world before him swirled. Slowly, he came to his senses and stood under his own weight. Everyone else was staring up at him, looking into his eyes to see if he was all right. 

He sighed, “I knew there’d be a day when you all looked at me like the hero I am.” 

Practically in unison, they all dropped their concerned faces. Lance laughed at them. Shiro patted him on the shoulder, dispersing the crowd with his other hand, “C’mon, lets get you some food.” Lance made quick eye contact with Keith, who was smiling. Keith fell in step beside him. 

“Mm, food sounds good.” He said. Keith sat beside him at the table, and Coran pushed a plate of green goo in front of him. 

“You seem to be developing a habit,” Coran said, “Nearly killing yourself saving people.”

Lance smirked and took a bite “Next time I’ll put in a reservation first.”

A few of the others smiled. “You must have had quite an adventure, out there,” Allura said.

Lance nodded, “I can’t say I remember much of it. I know the wormhole collapsed, and my lion got thrown, but from there it’s a bit of a blur. Who’d I save?”

Keith’s smile dropped and he stared at Lance in horror. The others looked at each other, uncomfortable. “You’re kidding.” Keith said, “You don’t…you don’t remember the planet…the galra soldiers…the k..the…anything?”

Lance bit the inside of his cheek, desperately trying to keep a straight face. He shook his head. Keith stared at him in shock and disbelief. His lip quivered. It was cute.

Lance couldn’t hold it. He tried to cover his mouth with his hand, but even that couldn’t hide his smile nor the chuckle bubbling up from him. 

“You’re…” Keith muttered, realization dawning on him. “You ARE kidding.” With that, Lance let his laughter loose. Several of the others around the table rolled their eyes at him. “DAMMIT LANCE!” Keith said, punching his arm. Lance grabbed his arm in pain, but kept laughing. 

“Hey, hey,” Shiro said, “No hitting. We just got him OUT of a med pod.” 

“Ugh, I’ve been attacked!” Lance feigned horrible injury and splayed out against Shiro’s arm, “Put me back in the pod, let me sleep for two more days.”  
Keith looked like he very much wanted to punch Lance again, but instead, he pushed Lance’s plate at him. “Eat your goo.” 

Lance chuckled and did as he was told. “So,” Lance said, “What’d I miss this time?”

The other’s went off into tangents about their adventures after getting stranded throughout the universe. Lance paid attention as much as he could, but a lot of his focus went to his food, and Keith’s hand that had ended up resting on his knee under the table. When he had finished the food, but the stories were still being told, he put his own hand on Keith’s, and intertwined their fingers. 

 

Keith and Lance ended up being the last to stay in the dining hall, everyone else going to bed or attending to other duties. Lance wondered how many of them noticed their entwined hands when they left, but found he didn’t particularly care. 

Keith stood up, still holding Lance’s hand and pulled him up out of his chair, “You really do remember everything,” Keith said, “Don’t you?”

Lance smirked, “I might have missed the ending to some of your stories. You could always tell them again.”

Keith smiled, “I have a better idea.” He pulled on Lance’s hand and backed away a few steps, seeing if Lance would follow him. He did, willingly. 

Keith led him through the halls of Lion Castle. They did not head towards their bedrooms, as Lance thought, nor the training deck, which was his second guess. Instead, Keith dragged him up a tall, tall, very tall staircase. After about 4 or 5 floors worth, Lance finally asked, “Where are we going?”

“I found a place I wanted to show you,” Keith said, “when you were unconscious.”

Lance sighed and kept climbing the stairs. He stared at Keith and watched the back of his head as they continued further and further upward. Finally, they reached a door.

Keith finally released Lance’s hand and turned to him, his back to the door. Lance stood on the step directly below him, which put the two of them very close to one another. “Close your eyes,” Keith instructed.

Lance did so, expecting a kiss. Instead, he heard a door open. Keith took his arm again and dragged him through. Lance couldn’t see any light. “All right,” Keith said, “Open them.”

Lance did, and looked around at a room covered in stars. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust and realize that actually it was that the domed walls and ceiling were made of glass, allowing them to see into the vastness of space. “Do you like it?” Keith asked.

Lance smiled to himself and turned to Keith, “Keith,” he said, “Is this a date?”

Keith smirked, staring at the floor, “It could be.”

Lance smiled and pushed Keith’s hair behind his ear. “It could be,” Lance echoed, “Keith, I just want to make sure…you said you hadn’t figured out your feelings until recently and…if it was a ‘we’re gonna die situation,’ I get it, but I don’t want you feeling guilty or—“

Keith broke him off with a kiss on the lips. Lance relaxed instantly, holding Keith in his arms. Finally, Keith broke apart, leaning his head on Lance’s shoulder. He spoke into his neck, “I do feel guilty. I know I shouldn’t, and you probably don’t want me too, but I do. But this isn’t about that.” He smiled, “This is for taking care of me and being with me, and, to name some of these constellations.”

Lance lifted Keith’s chin up and kissed him on the mouth again. The stars shone above their heads and the ship and stars and everything in the universe dissolved into their kiss. 

Lance separated only far enough so that he could speak, “Let’s get started then”

They lay on the floor, trying to find shapes and making up stories and sharing kisses up where it felt like no one could touch them.


End file.
